"Rachel was Luke's very serious girlfriend."

"When did Luke have a girlfriend?"

"Oh, this must've been five, six years ago. Did she break that man's heart. It was terrible."

Season 1.13- Concert Interruptus

1995

When it came to Rachel, everyone, Luke included, was more cautious to fall in love with the idea of them as a couple. It wasn't just the memory of what happened with Anna, but also the fact that Rachel seemed restless, while Luke was firmly planted in Stars Hollow. On the plus side, she didn't seem to have any interest in settling down too soon.

Luke loved her, but she ran him ragged. He loved her but she never did what he expected. He loved her, but half the time he didn't know where she was. He loved her, but he didn't feel like he had enough time to love her before she was off again.

And yet time went on. They were wrapped in each other so much that they almost couldn't hear the whispers of the town. Maybe this was the girl they'd all been waiting for, the one that would marry their diner guy. Maybe she'd convince him to leave that apartment above the store or even leave Stars Hollow. He was like a puppy dog with her, all wide-eyed and in awe.

"You're hooked on that one, big brother!" Liz would tell him when she came through town to borrow money. She'd sit in the diner and eat all his food without paying. "Hook, line, and sinker." She mimed casting a fishing rod. Luke slapped her playfully with the cloth he was wiping the counter down with.

"You would know," he retorted.

"Yes, I would know. And I know when you're in love, Luke Danes. You've been seeing this girl over a year, you gonna propose ever?"

"It's only been a year, Liz, not everyone is you."

"But come on! This feels different, doesn't it?" Liz pressed.

"I mean..."

"Oh, don't. I'll ask Rachel. Where is she?"

"Not here."

"Oh. When will she be back?"

Luke shrugged.

"When did she leave?"

"Few days ago."

"A few days ago? And you don't know where she is?"

Luke sighed and put the cloth down. "She does it all the time. Gets an artistic vision, like this one shot she just has to get and that's it. She'll be gone for days, sometimes weeks. She might call, she might not."

"Reminds me of me," said Liz.

"Oh don't say that, it's creepy." Luke sighed. Liz chuckled to herself.

She did come back eventually. In the middle of the night.

"Luke! Luke!" she shook him until he woke up.

"Rachel?"

I got it, the perfect shot, the one I've been waiting for, I got it!"

"You..."

"I want you to have it." Luke rolled over and looked up at her. Her bright eyes were gleaming in the light and her smile was wider than ever. Her hair fell down around her face just like it did the first night they met in the diner, when she was his very last customer for the evening and he kept the diner open hours after closing, just so she would stay. "I want you to have it," she repeated. "All this time, I think I've been trying to get it perfect for you."

"I..." Luke could barely speak. She was so beautiful and everything she was saying to him was so romantic he didn't know how to process it.

"You wanna see it?"

"Yes, yes of course."

She pulled him over to the table where a huge framed photograph was lying. The frame was a deep mahogany and the picture was a satellite picture of Stars Hollow at dusk, beautifully edited. You could see the entire town, all the places Luke loved. It emanated warmth and love and comfort, and something about it reminded Luke of his childhood, before his father died and his mother was sick, when life seemed oh so simple.

"It's... amazing," Luke murmured.

"I think so too." Rachel said, placing a hand on his shoulder and rubbing his back.

"My whole world," Luke muttered, stroking the photograph. Rachel just watched him silently.

The next morning she was gone. It was unceremonious and not even remotely dramatic. Her stuff was gone, her suitcase was missing, no note, nothing. It was like she had never been there. The only thing left was the photograph, which she'd hung on a hook on the back wall. It could be that she was just off on another photography trip, but Luke knew that she wasn't.

It took a few weeks to sink in, that she was actually gone and wasn't coming back, and then it made him mad. And it broke his heart. It was the final nail in the coffin of his enduring philosophy: People Always Leave. Everyone in his life had eventually left him behind and it was stupid to assume that Rachel would be any different. It wasn't fair. Life was so deeply, painfully unfair.